Narcisism and Social Media

In my previous post I described social media as narcissistic by its very nature.  I stand by that observation.

Social media is inwardly focused in its conception and execution.  Twitter being one of the worst offenders.

When we place a post on Facebook, Twitter ...what ever social media we use we are declaring to the world we want to be noticed.  We want the world to acknowledge our small achievement in life such as clipping our toe nails or that random bird we just saw out the window.  Our posts are inward looking and we are hoping that those on our friends lists will look at them and respond with some sort of congratulations or acknowledgement.

For those who measure self worth by social interaction, this is a fantastic way to boost our egos.  We can put out a needy post and hope that those on our friends lists will call our bluffs and restore our self worth.  Or we can link a picture of a poor cancer kid and hope that they see our like and we can feel we have done our part for the world.  Our contribution to the world if you like.

Perhaps you might recall the Kony 2012 campaign.  A great way to raise awareness but did anyone honestly think that liking a picture or post was going to bring this man to justice?  That liking or commenting on said pictures or posts would magically put him in prison?  This man likely has no access to Facebook, is perhaps unaware of what Facebook is, and a campaign on such a platform is unlikely to do anything other than make him giggle if he saw it.  I will state I am not on the side of this sicko.  I am merely pointing out that those who did like or comment on these posts were merely filling their good deed quota for the day and moving on, not really taking in the whole gravity of the situation or why this man was creating child soldiers in the first place.

The likely reason ... to gain control of resource rich areas of the world to build his wealth by supplying Western civilisation with the raw materials they need to make their computers, smart phones, tablets etc.  I didn't really look too far into the one specific example of Kony, which I have read he had already been dealt with prior to the campaign beginning anyway.  But I have researched the situations in Africa and in the Congo and this reason is the big reason for so much unrest.  Religious fundamentalism is also there, but at the heart of any fundamentalism is the need to fund such fundamentalism.

So while many people liked away, they didn't really understand that their rampant need for consumerism and electronics was the actual reason behind such men as Kony.  Thus we make the clear case for social media and its inward looking narcissism.  By clicking like on a picture calling for Kony's arrest, we are filling our need to feel like we have made a difference in the world and then move on to something else.  A purely selfish act at it's heart because it had nothing to do with educating the masses about the plight of the children in Africa as child soldiers and nothing to do with bringing a man to justice for his heinous crimes against humanity but everything to do with making the West feel less at fault for causing the situation in the first place.